Peter Miskimmin - CEO

Peter came to SPARC in late 2006, after 17 years at New Zealand Post where he was Head of Corporate Sales and prior to that held a number of senior management roles in Marketing and Commercial.

Peter has a wealth of experience as an athlete, coach and administrator. A former captain of the New Zealand hockey team, he played 150 test matches for New Zealand from 1978 to 1992. He won the New Zealand Hockey Player of the Year Award twice, and played at the 1984 Los Angeles and 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games as well as the 1982 and 1986 Hockey World Cups. He went on to become Leader Athlete Services in the Games Management Team for the 1998 Kula Lumpur Commonwealth Games and 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

Peter has coached the Wellington Men’s National League Hockey Team since 2003, winning three national titles. He has also coached the Wellington provincial under 21 men’s team and won back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007. He won the Sport Wellington Coach of the Year in 2006 and is currently a New Zealand Academy of Sport carded coach. Peter was recently appointed Junior Black Sticks men’s coach for the 2009 Junior Hockey World Cup.

In 1992 Peter was appointed to the New Zealand Olympic Committee’s Athletes Commission and was the Chairperson of the Commission from 1993 to 2000. He as a Board member of the New Zealand Olympic Committee from 1993 to 2000, a Board member of the New Zealand Sports Foundation from 1995 to1999 and has been the President of the Olympian Club of New Zealand since 1999.

Peter was appointed to SPARC's Board in April 2006 and he resigned from the Board to take up the position of GM Sector Development at SPARC.  Peter was appointed Chief Executive in April 2008.

Andy Millard - General Manager, Marketing & Communications

In SPARC, Andy leads and supports SPARC’s team of marketing and communications professionals in the delivery of social marketing programmes Push Play and Mission-on, plus the marketing and communications aspects of SPARC’s other key initiatives.

Andy comes to SPARC with a successful track record in marketing and management roles in both Australia and New Zealand. Andy’s experience encompasses both B2B and B2C environments, specialising in general management, organisational strategy, and strategic and tactical marketing during more than 20 years in blue chip and market leading companies within the construction, franchising, rural and retail sectors.

In addition to his experience in the private sector, Andy has knowledge of New Zealand government via a previous role liaising with the Department of Building and Housing addressing building sector issues.

A native of Perth, Andy holds a Bachelor of Business Studies from Edith Cowan University, has completed post graduate studies in marketing, law, organisational strategy and change management at Edith Cowan University, Harvard Business School and Victoria University.

Andy is passionate about the work of SPARC, and despite his considerable qualifications, says that the sports field taught him all he needed to know about working with people, and achieving success.

In his youth, Andy was a member of the Australian and Western Australian Institute of Sport as a national and state age group hockey representative.  He has continued to coach hockey at representative levels in both Australia and New Zealand.

Lynda James - General Manager, Corporate Services
Acting General Manager Research, Policy and Evaluation

As SPARC's General Manager Corporate Services, Lynda James has overall responsibility for finance, business planning, information services, procurement and office administration.

Lynda has worked at SPARC since February 2005 as Chief Financial Officer.

Lynda is a Chartered Accountant and has 17 years experience in the public sector. Ten of those years were spent in auditing roles: seven with Audit New Zealand and three in the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Fisheries.

Lynda made the transition from audit to financial management as Strategic Business Manager with the Ministry of Women's Affairs and then as Manager of Finance and Performance for the Community Development Group at the Department of Internal Affairs.

Martin Toomey - Acting General Manager, Sector Development